Taiwan Day 2

Day 2 was a day of relaxation and many attractions. Its also the only day we got a tour guide for the entire day which was part of the package. The day began simple enough with our first taste of breakfast in the hotel.

Breakfast 7am to 8am: Breakfast is a simple buffet spread with Intercontinental and Asian spreads for offer. There's cereal, milk, bread, fruits, bee hoon, ham, sausages, omelets, soup noodles, porridge, hard boiled eggs and potato salad. The food choices will change a little everyday but the general items remain. Quality and taste wise, its acceptable but nothing worth mentioning.

Strawberry Cereal

This was to be my new favorite cereal in the days to come. I'd have one bowl every morning. Its good because its mildly sweet, crunchy, healthy and sourish thanks to the strawberries. A perfect breakfast and one i've grown to accept even in Singapore.

Freedom Square (Zi You Guang Chang)

Our first stop for the day was Freedom Square and it was glorious. Blistering weather aside, the view and scale needs to be felt to do it justice. Everything was huge and simply walking from one end to the other takes about 10-15 minutes depending on your pace. Upon ascending the final monument, looking back provides a real sense of achievement and a good view of how beautiful the monument really is. However, it is highly recommended to visit during a cooler part of the year or risk perspiring your entire journey up and down.

Memorial (Zhong Lie Ci)

Heat stroke anyone?

Guard Changing Parade

Continued

Tourists....

Our next stop brought us to another historical memorial to view a famous guard changing parade. Hoards of tour buses were already on site when we arrived and the sea of tourists threatened to drown any and all views of the parade. Fortunately, we managed to catch a small glimpse of what transpired and it was interesting to say the least. Its amazing how complex their routine is and how perfectly they've managed to do it. Not to mention the horrible weather they have to endure by standing guard. It is a testament to the amount of pride they hold for the sacrifices the older generation made to secure the country's current standing.

Mao's House

Deer Foetus

Lingzhi

Being a guided tour, it would be foolhardy to assume you will not be brought to a shop or a few shops that will try to get a few dollars out of your pocket. So here we are at the first shop for a look at their merchandise. The interesting part is that the shop is run by aboriginals or the "early settlers" of Taiwan. The merchandise is rather exotic as well. Comprising of Lingzhi and dead deer foetuses and royal jelly as their main sales points. Simply translated, everything here is way above my budget and despite the possibility that they may be good for us, i simply couldn't afford it. A good note is, these people simply introduce, share and leaves the decision to purchase up to you. No hard sell tactics and no ugly looks, this is the first place of many that Taiwan's great service attitude begins to astound me. Singapore service can benefit much from the service level here.

Miramar Shopping Complex

Ferris Wheel

Connecting Bay

One of the bigger shopping malls in Taipei, the Miramar comes with its very own Ferris Wheel. Looking every bit as intimidating as it should be. To do actual shopping here is rather tough since almost everything is branded and as usual, expensive. The only thing we could afford here turned out to be the little snack below.

Puff Puff


Chocolate and Vanilla Cream Puffs

In the fastest summary i can give, this is Beard Papa's competitor but with softer puffs. The cream, filling and taste simply reminds me directly of Beard Papa and true enough, walk a little further and you'll find a Beard Papa outlet here as well. Competition is steep here.

Jiu Fen

1300-1600 hours: Needless to say, we were famished by the time we got up the mountainous roads to Jiu Fen but i'll sidetrack a little here. I have no idea how anyone can get up here taking a public bus. Its mind boggling and totally out of the way but i have to also say that its totally and utterly worth the time to visit. I'll elaborate why with the pictures below.

Big Big Sausages in various flavors

Weekend Crowd

Ah Shin's Shop

Quality Snacks

To start off, this was a Sunday and so, all the locals and tourists were up in full force to visit this little hidden sanctuary. For good reason too. Our first splurge happened at this little shop called simply "Ah Shin's Shop". They sell a variety of dried snacks, jelly and mochi. Trust me, they're all pretty darn good and if you buy a certain number of packets, you get additional packets free! So...we bought 1 entire carton worth of snacks...Yeah, not kidding. 1 huge carton worth of these little snacks. Time to crack our heads on how we can bring it up the plane.

Chang's Traditional Fish Ball

Hard At Work

Its packed

The place was packed with people and rightly so. Its a rather famous joint for food to people in the know and cheap as well.

Braised Pork Rice (lor bak)

Do not let the simplicity of this picture throw you off. One taste and i'm pretty sure you'll lap up the entire bowl in a hurry (assuming you like lor bak like me). To describe the difference between this and Singapore's version, its sweeter, the slices of pork thinner and leaner and overall, its just a whole lot more fragrant then any similar offerings you might have had before. Try it to believe it!

The utterly super extremely juicy and tasty fish balls in soup (sorry about the focus)

The fishballs are another surprise. Each was special in its own way. Of the 2 i've had, one was huge and within it was minced pork which was superbly satisfying while the other was very chewy with alot of bite. The pickled cucumbers you see here are fragrant and crunchy but not the stars ultimately.

Braised Pork Noodles

Another star which is seemingly simple. Do not let its instant noodle look turn you away, its much better then it looks. I geuss the braised pork also helped in making it better since its taste is homogeneous and very satisfying.

Shao Xing wine Drunken Chicken

Meant to be either a cold dish to whet your appetite or a main dish to complement your rice and noodles, this is definitely a must have. It also happens to be the most expensive item on the menu at NTD 150 which is approximately Sgd $6. The meat is soft and tender and cold with a strong alcoholic taste which is pleasant and appetising. The catch is the coagulated fat you see on each piece of meat which feels a little like eating jelly.

I'll make a statement. They can serve anything on their menu, throw in some of their superb braised pork and it immediately becomes a delicacy. Its that good.

Vermicelli

Our guide had this but if the other food items are anything to go by, this is definitely a good meal.

The above are assorted sights and sounds of Jiu Fen. Its an extremely interesting place thats most definitely worth a visit. Even the locals treat this as a de facto location to visit during the holidays. How could anyone miss it?

Jiu Fen Tea House

Self designed tea crockery

Jiufen Teahouse: This is the place where i had the most expensive tea i've ever spent money on. SGD 30 for a packet of tea leaves anyone? No doubting on the atmosphere here however, its beautiful. And truth be told, the tea is definitely different and very refreshing. In fact, i've never liked tea as much as i did after this visit. With the correct methods of brewing tea, you can enjoy it too. Awesome stuff! (Still too expensive for me though)

Hot Spring at Yang Ming Shan

Sulphuric Hot Spring: Our second last location before the tour ended was a hot spring experience on Yang Ming Shan. We toured the private hot spring and got a few photos above before proceeding to seperate public springs which i'm not able to take any photos. Either way, the smell of sulphur is a first for me and i'd liken it to smelling a little like sewage. It wasn't exactly pleasant but is said to have wonderful healing properties. The water is obviously hot and given that we were in Taiwan during a warm season, we ended up perspiring alot after our wash. Pretty interesting but would have prefered if we came during a cooler season for more enjoyment.

Shilin Night Market

Long Queues abound

Maestro at work

Its bigger then my face!!

Shilin Night Market: It was packed! People were everywhere with makeshift bazaars taking up much of the space. Food and snacks were everywhere and theres absolutely no way you can finish eating everything.
Our dinner this night turned out to be the fried chicken cutlet above and its huge! Its about $1+ Sgd and is much bigger then the Singapore version. The catch is, it comes with bones and all so be careful while you eat. The meat is very tender while fried batter is crispy and crunchy and a little spicy. So thats it, dinner for 2 sharing a huge cutlet and a cup of bubble tea. Everything under Sgd $5. Awesome!

Ear Waxing

Take photographs at your own risk

Food Street

The crowds gather when it gets darker

See for yourself

No matter which way you look, its packed.

Pepper Biscuits?

There's the entrance





2 extremely tired and aching feet

Before you know it. The day was over and we've bought ourselves quite a few items to show for the day's activities. We returned to the hotel tired, happy but a little sad that we've only eaten so little things that day. We vowed to somehow make it up in the coming days to be fair to ourselves and our stomachs.
To me, i think this was an excellent day where we saw many fantastic sights and ate some superb food. The people are definitely nice and the place, though stricken with fear over H1N1, is very hospitable. I've always had the impression that the people may be rough and rude but i couldn't be more wrong. In fact, i've come to realise, its the people in my home country that are more often then not rude. Taiwan till now, has impressed me to no end. And i can't wait to see what else this country has to offer.